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Tobias Binz

Principal

tobias.binz@swiss-economics.ch

+41 79 840 00 96

LinkedIn

Biography

Tobias Binz is a Principal with Swiss Economics where he specializes on matters related to competition and regulation in the context of

  • investigations and procedures (e.g. by sector regulators, competition authorities, or appeal tribunals),
  • disputes (e.g. Quantum expertise during arbitration and litigation), and
  • business strategy (e.g. due diligence in connection to M&A activity or valuation services related to tax rulings).

His expertise in the area of regulated profits (capital costs / WACC), regulatory costing, pricing, pass-on, and market power is heavily sought after by advisors, companies, and regulators in numerous industries.

Before joining Swiss Economics, Tobias worked in the London office of a global economic consultancy. He holds Master degrees from the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics and HEC Lausanne, as well as a Bachelor degree from the University of Zurich.

Work Experience

  • Principal, Swiss Economics (2019 - )
  • Senior Consultant, Swiss Economics (2017 – 2019)
  • Consultant, Oxera (2014 – 2017)
  • Economist, Federal Price Surveillance (2012 – 2013)

Education and Training

  • MSc in Specialized Economic Analysis of Competition and Market Regulation, Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (2014)
  • MSc in Management, HEC Lausanne (2011)
  • BA in Economics and Business Administration, University of Zurich (2009)

 

Expertise

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Projects (selection)

  • Independent Expert Reports in ICC Arbitration (2024). Swiss Economics supported on the quantum case of an international arbitration  
  • Impairment of a damaged asset (2024). Does a damaged asset have to be written off?  
  • Cashflow Currencies and Capital Costs (2024). How do currencies affect the risk exposure of an airport or ANSP? Client: International Air Transport Association (IATA).  
  • Modelling of debt and capital structures (2024). What is the impact of debt structure and repayment schedule on cash flows, dividends and profit?  
  • Asset Beta of two Indian Airports (2023 – 2024). How does the regulatory framework of an airport affect its exposure to market risk? Client: International Air Transport Association (IATA).  
  • Flat-rate tariff systems in the outpatient sector (2023 – 2024). How does a flat-rate system differ from an individual service tariff in terms of a number of important assessment criteria? Client: santésuisse.  

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  • WACC for Swiss electricity grids and renewable energies (2023 – 2024). How high should the financing cost rate for electricity grids and renewables be in future? Client: Bundesamt für Energie (BFE).  
  • Supply Tasks, Capitalisation & Governance of a Market Area Manager (2023). Should the future market area manager in the Swiss gas market take on tasks related to supply security? If yes, how should the market area manager be capitalized, and how should the governance be structured? Client: Swiss Federal Office of Energy.  
  • Audit of a forecast model of the cost impact of standardised financing in the healthcare system (EFAS) (2023). How would the standardised reimbursement of ambulatory, inpatient and nursing care services (EFAS) affect insurers?  
  • WACC Tool (2022). How can the cost of capital be set in a project- or company-specific manner in a pragmatic but coherent way?  
  • Dublin Airport WACC (2022). Should Dublin Airport's regulatory WACC be amended in light of Covid-19? Client: Commission for Aviation Regulation (CAR).  
  • Valuation of a Blockchain Protocol (2022). Valuation for a new project developed by a group of scientists, engineers, and creatives who work at the intersection of multi-agent systems and distributed ledger technology.  
  • Analyse de coûts et stratégie tarifaire pour le chauffage à distance en Valais central (2022 – 2023). A quel niveau devrait se situer le tarif du chauffage à distance en Valais central ? Client: OIKEN SA.  
  • Feasibility analysis for benchmarking in the hospital sector (2022). How could benchmarking be implemented in the hospital sector?  
  • Study on regulating interchange fees of Debit- and Credit Cards (2021). Is there a need for regulation in the area of interchange fees in the wake of the rapid growth of new debit cards? Client: Verband elektronischer Zahlungsverkehr.  
  • Damages assessment in an arbitration case (2020 – 2022). What is the damage arising from the enactment of new EC law on an affected business?  
  • Amendments to the methodology for determining the WACC for Swiss power grids (2020 – 2021). How should the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) of Swiss power grids be determined? Client: Bundesamt für Energie (BFE).  
  • Regulation, costing and pricing of district heating (2020). What are the cost drivers of district heating? What is a "fair" price for district heating? How should the governance and regulation for district heating networks look like? Client: Services Industriels de Genève (SIG), Office cantonal de l'énergie (OCEN).  
  • Determination of track charges (2019 – 2021). How can track user charges for rail freight services be determined? How can they be implemented in practice?   Client: Ministry of Transport of New Zealand (MoT).  
  • Assessment of unilateral effects in the context of a merger (2019). Assessment of unilateral effects in the context of a merger for a professional association.  
  • Assessment of economic effects from the UPC - Sunrise merger (2018 – 2019). Assessment of the effects from the merger between Sunrise and UPC on competition, including analysis of coordinated and non-coordinated effects. Client: Sunrise.  
  • Determination of the efficient cost of capital for Dublin Airport (2018 – 2019). Swiss Economics advised the Irish Commission for Aviation Regulation on the appropriate return on capital in the context of its 2019 Determination of price caps for passenger tariffs at Dublin Airport     Client: Commission for Aviation Regulation.  
  • Net costs of the USO in Ireland (2018 – 2019). Can the burden of the net cost of the universal service obligation in the Irish telecoms market be borne by the provider? Client: Comreg.  
  • Solving the Incentive Problem of the News Market with Spot (2018 – 2019). The incentives on the online news market got misaligned with the rise of search engines and online advertisements. In many cases, online news publishers are remunerated solely by online ad distributors. The value of news articles are therefore signaled by clicks. This leads to an overvaluation of clickbaits and an undervaluation of quality articles. This is the problem, Spot wants to solve with their solution.  
  • "Regulation brake" and regulation benchmarking (2017 – 2018). Can regulatory benchmarking contribute to "Better Regulation"?  

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Publications (selection)

  • Binz Tobias, Mattmann Matteo, Habibulina Lilia, Apreda Luca (2022). Dublin Airport Cost of Capital for 2022 Interim Review. Report for the Commission for Aviation Regulation.  
  • Binz Tobias, Haller Andreas, Trinkner Urs, Kammerlander Eric (2021). Financial impact of the Corona pandemic on hospitals. Bundesamt für Gesundheit (BAG).  
  • Binz Tobias, Trinkner Urs, Mattmann Matteo, Wüthrich Felix (2021). WACC methodology for Swiss electricity TSOs and DSOs. Swiss Federal Office of Energy.  
  • Binz Tobias (2020). How do firm and market characteristics affect airports' Beta risk? Competition and Regulation in Network Industries. 2020;21(3):297-312.  
  • Binz Tobias, Jaag Christian, Rutz Samuel (2020). Competition law and Corona crisis: Assessment of international reactions. Oekonomenstimme.
  • Trinkner Urs, Binz Tobias, Mattmann Matteo (2020). Comparator Betas for French airports. Report on behalf of Autorité de régulation des transports.  

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  • Trinkner Urs, Binz Tobias, Rungger Alec (2020). Study on drivers of airport Beta risk. Report on behalf of Autorité de régulation des transports.  
  • Binz Tobias, Fleckinger Pierre, Jaag Christian, Monnier Constance (2019). Passing on of cartel overcharges: why is it so difficult to formulate robust predictions? Concurrences N°4-2019, pp. 50-58.  
  • Jaag Christian, Binz Tobias, Mattmann Matteo, Schnyder Nina, Trinkner Urs (2019). Dublin Airport Cost of Capital for 2019 Determination. Report for the Commission for Aviation Regulation.  
  • Trinkner Urs, Binz Tobias, Mattmann Matteo, Schnyder Nina (2018). WACC determination of Swiss airports. Expert report on behalf of Zurich Airport.  
  • Binz Tobias, Rutz Samuel (2018). Fusionskontrolle modernisieren. Neue Zürcher Zeitung.